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A normal person would assume that Phoenix cop Sean Drenth committed suicide because he was about to be indited or arrested for crimes he was committing which involved stealing thousands of dollars.

But I guess the cops don't want to publicly admit one of their members is a crook.

Also at issue is the pension which the widow of Sean Drenth could get. If the cops rule his death a suicide, which it probably is his widow wont get the pension. I suspect that is the 2nd reason the cops are refusing to admit it was a suicide. That issued has been discussed in other newspaper articles, but it was not addressed in this article.

Source

Phoenix officer Sean Drenth's shooting death still a mystery

Police ponder clues that suggest murder, suicide

by William Hermann - May. 7, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

The fatal shooting of Phoenix police Sgt. Sean Drenth has become one of the most perplexing whodunits in Valley police history.

Statements made Friday by a Phoenix homicide-bureau lieutenant and a police spokesman, as well as case records released that afternoon, raise as many questions as they answer.

And the central question remains unanswered: Was Drenth, 34, murdered or did he take his own life?

Homicide Lt. Joe Knott said that when he reviews some of the evidence, "I think it probably was a suicide," but when he reviews other evidence, "I lean toward homicide."

"We don't really know."

On the night of Oct. 18, Drenth was found shot to death near the state Capitol, lying on his back next to the passenger side of his patrol car. The driver and passenger doors were open. He reportedly died from a blast from his shotgun, which was found resting on his chest, the muzzle pointing toward his chin.

"The first people at the scene thought it looked like a suicide," Knott said.

But after officers began to scour the scene, other evidence emerged.

Drenth's service pistol was found almost 40 feet from his body and on the other side of a fence. Drenth carried a "secondary weapon," a smaller pistol, found beside him, that had been fired toward where his service pistol was found, Knott said.

"We dug the slug out of the fence."

Case records say investigators at the scene found signs of a struggle and some of Drenth's equipment scattered about.

When experienced homicide investigators studied the way the shotgun rested on Drenth's body, the position of the weapon "looked like someone placed it that way, giving us significant reasons to believe (the suicide) was staged," Knott said.

The investigation was complicated by the fact that when the "officer down" call went out on the police radio, "officers responded from all over the city," and that meant that more than 24 people were walking around the crime scene.

It took investigators weeks of analyzing crime-scene evidence - footprints, fingerprints and DNA - to account for every person.

When they were done, they realized there was a person they couldn't account for.

"There is evidence that there was someone else at the scene that we have not been able to explain," said Sgt. Trent Crump, a Phoenix police spokesman. "Much of the work that investigators have been doing has had to do with trying to resolve that."

Knott and Crump say homicide investigators now have three possible scenarios: "That we have a homicide, a suicide that was staged to look like a homicide, or we have a homicide we are unable to explain from the evidence at the scene," Crump said.

Further complicating the picture, Knott said, was that Drenth at the time of his death was one of more than 24 officers who, for more than a year, were under investigation into reported theft while working off-duty at a south Phoenix housing complex.

They were accused of pocketing thousands of dollars for security services they claimed to have done but which authorities allege they didn't provide.

Drenth was found to have pocketed more than $1,000 after investigators determined he would "start some of his shifts late and left early" on others, records show.

Drenth died before indictments were made in the case. Three of Drenth's fellow officers and a former officer were indicted, and police officials later confirmed that Drenth would have been indicted had he lived. They said Drenth could have faced felony charges.

The investigations of wrongdoing and Drenth's impending indictment give ammunition to those who believe Drenth killed himself in the face of prosecution. But they also lead some to suggest that those being investigated had a motive to fear possible testimony from Drenth, and one or another might have wished to silence him.

Knott said that interviews his detectives did with people who knew Drenth throw cold water on the notion that he killed himself over the investigation.

"Nobody we talked to believes that Sergeant Drenth would have killed himself for any reason," Knott said.

Which leaves the case, Knott and Crump said, classified as a "death unknown" and the investigation still open.

Knott said detectives "have had many tips saying Sergeant Drenth was murdered; we got one last Monday. We will investigate all the tips."